John1 Thinking Spiritually Leads to Speaking Spiritually

[HKHaugan]

There is an old two box cartoon that makes a point. The first box shows two psychiatrists passing each other in a hallway. They each say 'Good morning.' In the second box the balloon over each of their heads conveys the same thought, “I wonder what he meant by that?” A lot can be drawn out of it: a wry statement about psychiatric methodology, the aloneness we all have when we try to figure each other out, the way words carry unique meaning for us in terms of past experience. Even doctors of the mind need understanding, compassion and connection.

Words are employed when their source is an interest like sport or clothes to name two. Stores pushing sports may have signs like 'football spoken here' or 'soccer spoken here' or a clothing store may advertise 'fashion is our language.' I remember the language of outward symbols meant fellowship was available when I walked into a Sons of Norway lodge to be with those who had Nordic heritage. In those kinds of environments the communication is limited and touchy social and political ideas are avoided in order to preserve the idol of heritage and something more important, personal worth that one's ethnic background promises.

Take note of the fact that there is a spiritual base beneath secular idols. Whether it is a teen age gang, a country club setting, a corporate boardroom, an academic conclave, a theatrical community, a neighborhood bar or a regional custom, they each have a language both visible and invisible motivated by a spirit of some kind. It could be a spirit of fear, pride, greed or anger. So the final assessment to be made is always a spiritual one. Clothing styles, dialects, mannerisms, gestures and behavioral patterns speak a language reflecting a spirit and they are its words.

Words are also physical sounds begging interpretation. Their meaning has impact not only in the physical sound but in the unseen attitude, emotion and motivation behind them. Words are how we read the world and respond to what we think they mean. They provide recognition and acceptance on the one hand but on the other can be used negatively to reject and exclude. No one ever gets either a perfect understanding or gives a perfect response. In fact no two persons ever really hear the intent of the person speaking and many times a person doesn't understand what or why they respond the way they do. How do we know the best way to use words?

But there is another language whose words can cover every situation in all places for all occasions. People who speak this language perceive the world on a different level and use the words in the language to discern what is really going on around them. It is the language of the Scripture that is the medium to perceive what is behind all the words that are not derived spiritually. The pools of meaning in all human languages are stirred by some spirit but biblical language is stirred by the Holy Spirit and can educate and inspire on every level of human interchange.

It's important to think spiritually because that's the way God thinks. Three spot notes clarify this:

First, Jesus made this clear when He said, “God is spirit (Jn.4:24).”

A second comes from Paul who states emphatically, “We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us (1Cor.2:12).”

The third gets us to thinking like God thinks, or to at least approach the way He thinks. That is to really give our whole attention to the way John starts his Gospel, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1).”

It's very important to take hold of what John has said here. When John was inspired by the Holy Spirit to begin His Gospel he started “In the beginning was the Word.” 'The Word' is singular, a noun, one, which means everything started and continues to start with one word. The original 'Word' was God, the one only living God, the living God of whom Jesus was and is. He is the fullness of God's Word in the flesh; all thought, all concept, all thinking, all related life and activity was and is spiritual in His Oneness. Jesus is the revelation of the Word as a person. What has always been is God and He is the One Word from which all other words proceed. God is the beginning of language and He is meant to be spoken and shared by His very nature. That's the revelation the Hebrews received and why they held the name so sacred, so holy, that it was not allowed to be pronounced so they substituted the word Adonai (Hebrew for Lord) in its place. The actual pronunciation was lost in history.

The sounds we make, the meanings behind them, the intent, the purpose, the significance, all point back to that beginning when there was but One Word, the One Creator, the One Being we know as God. From Him issues all thought, principles, concepts and ideas. The very structure of the universe is part of the syntax of His speech. God's Word is not only singular it is very plural in its dimension when you consider the way He has revealed His nature and the way the Holy Spirit led the Old Testament writers to write words about Him. It is the One Word, Jesus, out of which a plurality of words come. They are Holy Words, the words of Scripture, which is why it is called Holy Scripture.

When we see why Jesus came into this world we can extend it to the redemption of how we communicate. He is the Word and His words clean up the mess that resulted from man thinking that by speaking one language they could take the place of God. Scripture is the rearrangement of human thought into God's thought, God's Word Jesus bringing the words that reflect Him on every level of human living. He speaks 'God-speak', God's mind, heart and Spirit. Paul picks up on this when he tells the Colossians, “Let your conversation always be full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone (Col.4:6).” And he tells the Ephesians,”Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs (Eph.4:29)....”Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving (Eph.5:4).”

Now I know you are probably thinking this is making something complicated that is really very simple. But I'm dead serious about this because it has a very important point. What we believe shapes the way we use human language as we communicate with the world around us. We are witnesses for the living Word Jesus. When our words are His words then we are the redeemers in every next moment for that moment. This changes the world we live in where we are.

John's experience of Jesus enables a great truth to be given to mankind. Using the Greek word 'logos' would reach the Greek influenced world all the way into Rome and beyond. The Greeks considered the use of 'logos' as a transcendent mind that was above all things. That mind contained many thoughts and concepts which philosophers could discover by human intellect. For the Greek philosopher only the intellectual could really embrace its meaning. John went them two better. He expanded its meaning to the whole person. Jesus had not only revealed the mind of God but His heart and Spirit as well. Anyone could receive and believe in a personal 'logos.' It was Jesus who was the 'Word' and He invited everyone to have a personal relationship with Him. He opened the personal nature of God and made sense out of human beings as images of God in mind, heart and spirit. The Lord God was personally available to everyone by faith no matter what their station in life. The Word was far more than any previous philosophy or religious system offered. It included the depths of the source and the magnitude of physical Creation, the Kingdom of Heaven and the fullness of God which is His Holiness, His Sacred Being, His Pure Nature. The Word Jesus is the reality of God as Father, Son, Spirit, Creator in uniqueness, individuality, personness.

Now we come to the words of the Word. What kind of sounds does He make that we can understand Him? The sounds when God speaks are His Creation, the language of God. Some scientists call it 'The Big Bang.' In reality God has spoken in enormous tones, syllables and phrases we know as universes, planets, galaxies, lightning, thunder, weather and specifically through images of Himself called people. His physical language conveys invisible realities like creativity, power, order, structure, purpose, meaning, destiny and for people He conveys His relational being, grace, love in perfect balance as a Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

One God, One Word, One Spirit, One power make up that initial Word behind all spoken words. Jesus is the perfect revelation of the Word, the first Word spoken and the last for all time. I can't but help to consider that parable Jesus tells when talking about His Kingdom. He compares it to how small a mustard seed is and yet how big it grows that it is able to give its many branches for birds to perch on (Mt.13:31). This is akin to the words that proceed from the One Word that is Jesus. His language is multiplied in the gifts and fruit of the Spirit that come through His Word. And we perch on the branches of the Body of Christ.

Jesus is the Word made flesh for us to understand the ultimate Holy God, the final Word that judges the nature of all words whether they are thought or spoken. All words that proceed from that One Word are Holy words. The Word conveyed in words is Holy Scripture. So the One Word is revealed in a limited human body, a limited human language and a limited relationship for our individual understanding.

Jesus the Word is what we speak because He is the beginning of how we perceive and respond to our experiences.

Therefore, when we read “In the beginning” those words not only mean when, through Jesus, all things came into being. They are personally directed to each of us as we face every next moment. Every moment is personal to us and has its beginning in us and Jesus is the Word to give us the words to meet that moment. Every next moment for us is a moment of creative response, a given moment to be a witness in the spiritual creativity and uniqueness which we received from Him when we chose to believe in Him. This is what it means to be an image of God. In essence we are His words shaped by Him being the Word we begin with.

What I am saying is this. Every spoken word is important because it reflects the spirit of the person speaking. You can tell what a person believes by the words he uses. If the one Word Jesus is our thought then His Spirit influences the words He leads us to use. They will be influenced by the written Word He provides in Scripture. Interesting isn't it?

Our spiritual life is made up of both an understood language and a language of spiritual impact that can't be worded. You can feel what words mean by how they are used. It's the source of the words that make the difference. Ultimately it all goes back to one word, the Word we have been given to understand all things, Jesus the Christ, God the Son, God in the flesh.

Jesus is the Word through whom we as His images use the language that best reflects Him which are the words of Scripture. Those words are seen as His thoughts, principles, ideas, concepts and sounds that we creatively can employ to share Him wherever we are. How many songs, plays, books and movies have spoken the Word's words? How many situations are there where He can be spoken?

You know the signs in windows of stores that say certain languages are spoken there to encourage their speakers to buy in a certain store. Norsk snakket her, Deutsch ist hier gesprochen, habla es spanol, (or as close as I can reckon them) and so on. If we can think of ourselves as a moving spiritual dictionary in every next moment we can practice saying first to ourselves, think Jesus and then to others, speak Jesus. In other words, Jesus is spoken here. In the beginning of each next moment we are His words.

Jesus said, “Heaven and earth may pass away, but my words will never pass away (Mt.24:35).”

“For, “All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.” And this is the word that was preached to you (1Peter 1:24-25 see Is.40:6-8).”